53 – 53. A Peculiar Woman (2)

“Eep?! Ah, Mister?! I just paid you?! Eeek?! That hurts!”

The stall owner yanked her by the hair, hard.

The woman struggled, panicked, trying to break free.

“A sigh.”

As people began to stare, Isaac stepped forward, offering a coin.

“Here, sir. I’ll pay for it.”

“No, this hussy needs more than money, she needs a lesson! Meddling with another’s business-!”

“My companion and I will eat too, so let her go.”

“Hehe, greetings!”

Jonathan, behind him, waved hello. The sight of him in his Helmont knight armor made the stall owner reluctantly release the woman and snatch the coin.

She slipped into the gap between stalls, along with her skewer. A narrow opening between rows of stalls.

“Ahem, thank you for the consideration. But you should taste the skewer. You’d see, that what I said was worth more than gold-!”

The woman, still flustered, started to speak, then suddenly stared at Isaac’s face.

“…Are you smitten?”

“Shut up, you.”

Isaac elbowed Jonathan, whispering close, and offered her a skewer.

He watched Jonathan devour two of them beside him, then sighed.

“I helped you, but next time, if you don’t have money, don’t eat.”

“It’s a misunderstanding. I thought I had money. I’m not shameless.”

“…”

“More importantly-”

The woman crossed her arms and grinned.

She seemed to notice something, shrugged her shoulders, then pointed a finger at Isaac.

“Isaac Helmont. You just returned from the north, didn’t you?”

She knew exactly who Isaac was.

“Huh?!”

Jonathan gaped, wondering how she knew.

Isaac didn’t typically leave the estate.

Even the people in the Helmont territory’s villages didn’t know him well.

The woman smiled mysteriously, then turned, showing her back.

“Earrings made of frost ore. Quite luxurious, aren’t they.”

She seemed pleased that her specialness, her mystique, had been highlighted, and she stepped away lightly.

Toward her retreating back, Isaac sighed and called out to her.

“Princess, what are you doing here?”

“……!”

The woman flinched.

Then, with an awkward expression and a cold sweat, she turned her head to answer.

“Oh, n-no… it’s not.”

* * *

Still amongst the stalls.

The three sat hunched down, facing each other.

“H-how did you know?”

The princess of the Albion Kingdom.

Clarice Evangeline Legardia.

A direct descendant of the Legardia royal family.

“Frostsilver is only handled by the Caldians and the royal family.”

Silberna had said when she gave him the earring.

[Where else, besides the North, would someone recognize frostsilver?]

But if he recognized it.

That meant one of two things.

Caldians, or the royal family.

“Based on appearance, I thought you might be a princess.”

“……You pretended to know, and tripped over your own feet.”

Clarice was deflated.

Looking at her, Isaac gave a bitter laugh.

The truth was.

To be a bit more honest.

There was a sort of connection in his previous life.

From the moment he saw her, he was agonizing about how to make it seem like he knew.

It was fortunate that she’d stumbled like that.

“It’s actually a good thing. I was thinking it might be a bit too much to handle alone.”

Clarice, snagging a loose stone nearby, scratches a circle into the dirt.

“This here’s Blackthorn. Isaac, thanks to your report, we know about the Transcendents, these unknown beings.”

“……”

“We’re preparing, under wraps, to strike at Blackthorn itself. Soon as the Sword Oaths are done, or not too long after, we’ll move.”

“That soon?”

“That’s slow, even. We don’t know what those Transcendents are gonna pull.”

Clarice lets out a breath.

A question bubbles up, and Jonathan asks it, perfect timing.

“But, why are you even at the Sword Oaths? You must be busy.”

“Precisely.”

Clarice grins, draws a line. At its end, she sketches a triangle, taps it with the stone.

“Someone in Helmont. Intel says they’re working with the Transcendents. I came to investigate it, secretly.”

“…The princess, herself?”

“I’m capable. If it wasn’t me, we wouldn’t even know Helmont was colluding with the Transcendents.”

The princess shrugs, cocky.

“You have no idea how secret they kept it. I really, really suffered, you know?”

Then, her shoulders slump, she complains.

“Maybe it would’ve been better not to know. Helmont, the Kingdom’s sword, in league with them.”

“Who is it?”

Isaac was genuinely curious.

In his past life, he never knew Helmont was working with the Transcendents.

If anything, it was the third son, Alois, being taken under their sway.

But from what Isaac remembered, that happened *after* Alois got kicked out of Helmont.

‘Who could it be?’

Isaac didn’t know.

So, he asks the princess.

“The one in Helmont working with the Transcendents is—“

The princess grins, declaring boldly,

“It’s Sharen Helmont!”

Isaac smacked his forehead, a sigh escaping.

Claris Evangel Regardia.

A remarkable figure, no doubt.

Alongside Rianna, a twin pillar, she’d helped safeguard humanity till the very end.

If Rianna was the kingdom’s final blade, then she was the kingdom’s last bastion of pride.

A commander of humanity, an innovative strategist.

Yet, like Sylverna.

Her talents, it seemed, hadn’t fully bloomed.

“A-ah, no! I’m telling you it’s true! It’s not like my logic is flawed! Two months ago, Sharen Helmunth sent her handmaidens outside in a very unnatural manner! Every day, no less! Something she’d never done before!”

It was to find star cookies.

Because Isaac, who’d been doing the errands, had left for the north.

“Not only that, she even went outside herself. Look, even the vicinity of Blackthorn is included.”

She must have gone there in case star cookies were there.

“And didn’t she even run into the Transcendents in the north?! According to information I obtained separately, Sharen Helmunth volunteered to be dispatched to the north out of the blue-!”

Alright, he had to admit it.

‘Her intel is no joke.’

How on earth did she find out all this?

As Isaac stared blankly at her, Claris’s voice, which had been preaching about how Sharen must be a traitor, gradually grew smaller.

“…Isn’t she?”

She glanced at Isaac and Jonathan, taking their measure.

It was clear that she was considering the possibility she was wrong.

“No.”

Isaac’s firm denial prompted Jonathan to try and smooth things over.

“Ah, it seems you just haven’t met her! If you meet her in person, I’m sure you’d see that she could never be like that!”

“Is that so.”

Claris, pouting, sighed, then slowly rose.

“I see. So, information isn’t just about receiving and compiling it, after all.”

Claris’s expression, if anything, was brighter.

The faint smile playing on her lips hinted at a mischievous, competitive spirit.

“You have to feel it firsthand. It was exactly as I thought it would be. I’m amazed at myself for even anticipating my own shortcomings.”

“……”

“……”

“Then you two there! Help me. We’re going to find out who the Hellmunt’s traitor is.”

“Alright.”

Isaac rises as well.

Truth be told, he too wondered if there really was a traitor within Hellmunt at this time.

As far as he knew, other than Alois, there were no Hellmunt who had colluded with the Transcendents.

‘Then… could Arundel’s illness also be questionable?’

If Arundel could live, it would mean a deterrent against war.

“Shall we go to the manor together?”

Claris is royalty.

Naturally, she would have received an invitation to the Sword Emperor Festival, and those who received invitations stay at the Hellmunt’s manor during the Festival.

“No, I’ll scout around the surroundings a bit more. Just think how valuable the information I obtain by doing it myself will be. You two are excited too, aren’t you?”

“……”

“……”

“Ahem, am I a princess or what?”

“I am truly looking forward to it.”

“I also hope you’ll be sure to tell me everything.”

“Alright! See you at the manor then!”

Claris, appearing like a gust of wind, stirring things up like a storm, then vanishing.

Watching her retreating back, the two men could only wear bewildered expressions.

* * *

The carriage stops at its destination.

“Haa.”

He knew it, but he hadn’t expected to return like this.

With a sigh, Isaac stepped out of the carriage.

What came into view was the massive and magnificent Hellmunt manor.

The other carriages lined up were those of other nobles who had received invitations.

It seemed they were in the midst of welcoming guests, and no one paid much mind to Isaac’s return.

Except for one.

“Brother-in-law, Brother-in-law!”

A clumsy gait.

The instant Isaac saw Alois approaching, smiling, and leaning on a cane.

“Brother-in-law! My sister is having some kind of strange misunderstanding— Brother-in-law?”

“Pfft.”

Isaac couldn’t hold back his laughter, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Need some pointers on walking with that thing? Looks awfully shaky.”

That was another area he just happened to be an expert in, wasn’t it?

“…I’ll be fine soon.”

Alois, his mood souring, gritted his teeth and replied.